U.S. professors’ work with Hamas-linked think tank prompts security concerns
Professors risk exposing universities to ‘radicalization,’ national security researcher says
American university professors have become increasingly involved in a Turkish think tank founded by a former academic sentenced to prison for conspiring with terror groups, a new report revealed.
The report’s author and a researcher at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, Melissa Sacks, told The College Fix the ties between American academics and the Center for Islam and Global Affairs raise serious national security concerns.
The RealClearDefense report estimates that “dozens” of academics from prominent U.S.-based universities have hosted or participated in CIGA events.
The center was founded by Sami al-Arian, a former professor at the University of South Florida. In 2006, Al-Arian was sentenced to prison in the U.S. for 57 months after being found guilty of conspiring to aid terror group Palestinian Islamic Jihad. He was then deported, according to a U.S. Department of Justice news release.
Academics have continued to participate in CIGA events despite the fact that the think tank has hosted senior leaders of Hamas and officials connected to other terror groups such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, according to RealClearDefense.
In 2023, for example, University of Michigan political science Professor David Temin spoke during a CIGA webinar. The event covered “decolonization and self-determination in North American Indigenous Political Thought,” RealClearDefense reported.
In the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel, Ohio State University law Professor John Quigley (pictured bottom) and Columbia University Professor Joseph Massad (pictured left) also hosted a CIGA panel on the “future of Zionism after the al-Aqsa flood.” Shortly after the attacks on Israel, Massad called them a “stunning victory.”
Further, al-Arian hosted a “CIGA Ramadan” series in 2021 featuring Princeton Professor Richard Falk and Georgetown Professor Nader Hashemi. Both Falk and Hashemi have previously faced criticism for their pro-Hamas activism, RealClearDefense reports.
In 2018, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Professor Sarah Shields spoke alongside Lafayette College Professor Hafsa Kanjwal on “the challenge of nationalism.” The panel was moderated by Abdullah al-Arian, the son of the center’s founder and a professor at Georgetown University’s Qatar campus.
The report also lists several other professors who have participated in CIGA events.
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The College Fix reached out to Shields, Kanjwal, Falk, Hashemi, and Temin, as well as the universities they teach at, to ask about the professors’ involvement with CIGA. None responded.
However, FDD Senior Research Analyst Melissa Sacks voiced significant concerns about American academics partnering with terrorist organizations to The Fix via email.
“[T]error affiliated groups may exploit these so-called ‘educational’ exchanges to radicalize participants or disseminate extremist ideology under the guise of intellectual dialogue,” Sacks said.
“The participation of American academics in CIGA events risks exposing the U.S. universities where they teach to radicalization, especially if extremist ideologies are advanced under the guise of legitimate scholarship or academic freedom which is the case at CIGA,” she said.
Recent scrutiny of CIGA comes amid growing concerns about foreign influence on American campuses, including ties to terrorist organizations and their state sponsors.
Earlier this year, the Network Contagion Research Institute found that American universities received over $29 billion in foreign funds between 2021 and 2024. Qatar and China were among the largest foreign government donors, with Qatar providing $6.3 billion to American universities over four years, The College Fix previously reported.
“This isn’t just a financial issue—it’s a national security crisis. Hostile powers are buying influence on American campuses at an industrial scale,” NCRI co-founder Joel Finkelstein said of the report.
In April 2025, days before the release of NCRI’s report, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to provide “transparency” regarding foreign meddling in American universities.
“It is the policy of my Administration to end the secrecy surrounding foreign funds in American educational institutions, protect the marketplace of ideas from propaganda sponsored by foreign governments, and safeguard America’s students and research from foreign exploitation,” the order reads in part.
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IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: Professors Joseph Massad, Ilan Pappe, and John Quigley speak during CIGA webinar; CIGA – Center for Islam and Global Affairs/ Youtube
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